“We’ll see,” Nox said calmly and everything around them resumed with a quick flick of his hand.
Clancy must have been aware and prepared because he immediately lunged at Dùbhghlas. He grabbed him by the middle and slammed him to the ground while Merlin wielded his staff like an axe, landing several hard blows to Dùbhghlas’s head. Nox wasted no time, ripping off the hood and quicklymelted the links binding Nelson’s hands and helped him to his feet.
“Please, say something! Tell me you’re alright!” Nox begged as he swept the sweat and hair away from Nelson’s eyes. They were bloodshot but puddled as Nelson nodded, laughing and crying as he grabbed Nox’s face with shaking hands.
“I’m alright! I’m alright!” he promised in a hoarse rush, kissing Nox like he was made of oxygen and it was Nelson’s first full breath in days.
It was for Nox as well, in a way. He finally felt complete and like he had regained all of his senses. If Nox lived for a thousand years, he’d never be able to describe the psychic relief he felt as he kissed Nelson but it was short lived.
“You’re hurt,” Nox complained. He could feel that something within Nelson burned with every breath he took and that various bones screamed from numerous fractures.
“I’ll be fine. I’m already healing, I can feel it,” Nelson said with a slight, reassuring grin that would have turned Nox’s legs to jelly if they weren’t in the middle of a chaotic, violent fight.
“He’s still going to pay. Get somewhere safe,” he told Nelson, then turned his attention back to the warlock getting his undead face bashed in with a massive chunk of black kyanite. Everly had joined them and was keeping Dùbhghlas pinned to the ground with the force of his aura.
But Arawn and Smoak were looking fatigued as they sparked back and forth, between the living side of the veil, and the frigid darkness of the waste beyond. Arawn would appear for a brief moment, frazzled and battered, before leaping at another black shadow and disappearing in a pop of blue light again. The terrified shrieks of demons burst around them as Smoak swirled through the air, snatching demons and flinging them through the veil at his minions. It was an effective strategy but Nox could see that Smoak was being trailed by several large, angry demons.
On the ground, Bryn and Tighe were holding their own against the last two Fomorians as Ingrid and the girls mangled what was left of Dùbhghlas’s army with their teeth and their claws, separating damned souls from cursed bodies and leaving the field strewn with carcasses. They were all exhausted too and Nox was anxious to settle matters with Dùbhghlas.
“I’ve put this off long enough.” He bit into his palm and burned the blood with blue fire. Nox raised his hands, seeking and summoning the Badb’s wrath once more. Cries filled the air and the sky above them darkened as another wave of giant, flame-eyed crows descended upon them. Nox headed for Dùbhghlas but ducked and shielded his eyes when a blinding, blue flash filled the glade and Merlin and Clancy were sent flying. Another blue flash hit Nox in the chest, throwing him back onto the porch.
Nox hit one of the posts, snapping it, and he was reeling when he got to his feet. He had only a moment to be impressed at Dùbhghlas for throwing out one last, big shot before another blast was aimed in his direction. Nox got his hands up, prepared to catch it when Smoak slammed into his side, sending them tumbling onto the grass.
“Fucking Dùbhghlas!” Smoak gasped out, twisting on the ground next to Nox. Half of Smoak’s body was made of billowing blue plumes but the other half was human and badly scorched. The exposed flesh was dark and tinted a deep blue as thick, ink-like blood spurted onto the grass.
Nox swore as he gathered Smoak in his arms and looked around for Merlin. “What have you done?” he whispered to Smoak, heartbroken as the mischievous glow faded from the demon’s eyes. “Why?I could have taken it.”
“Maybe,” Smoak coughed and grunted in agony. “Didn’t do it for you. Did it for Niall.” he said weakly, closing his eyes as the last of Smoak’s sentience left him with his final exhale.
“That was the right reason,” Nox said with a soft smile, lowering and pressing a reverent kiss to Smoak’s lips. “A world with only light is blinding and there is no balance without darkness.” He gave Smoak’s chest a reassuring pat, then rose and went to face Dùbhghlas. “Not so fast!” he said when the warlock took advantage of the distraction and tried to run. Nox gathered all the air around Dùbhghlas into a tight vortex, locking his arms at his sides and binding his legs.
Dùbhghlas let out an anguished yell as he struggled to break free. “Devillis fyre and daemon’s sp?—!”
“Thost!?2” Nox ordered, sealing Dùbhghlas lips together. “You will never utter another vicious word again,” Nox said with great relief, delighting in the blind terror in Dùbhghlas’s eyes. He leaned in, angling his head for a closer look and listening to the panicked screaming of Dùbhghlas’s last thoughts. “It’s over for you,” Nox informed him calmly. “You’ve written a very large, very nasty check and now, your ass has to cash it. Goodbye and fuck off, Hugh.”
Nox grabbed the sides of Dùbhghlas’s face and pressed his thumbs into the demonic warlock’s eyes until they burst. Like Smoak’s, Dùbhghlas’s blood was thick and dark blue as it gushed from the sockets. Dùbhghlas’s throaty sobs grew higher and more frantic and he thrashed against the swirling current holding him immobile.
“See my light!”
Nox let the incandescence within him burn until it overtook him and poured it into Dùbhghlas, scorching and searing everything it touched. The warlock’s skin bubbled and blistered as smoke seeped from Dùbhghlas’s ears and from around Nox’s thumbs. Nox held on while Dùbhghlas’s body curled in on itself, splintering and glowing red from within like an ember as it shrunk. He watched as Dùbhghlas’s skull and limbs shriveledinto cinder before turning into ash and spilling between his fingers.
“Now, you are what you were meant to be: nothing.” Nox raised his palm and blew, scattering the last of Dùbhghlas’s ashes on the wind. He let his hatred and heartbreak be carried away with the breeze and was smiling as he took stock around him.
The last of the crows could be seen disappearing over the horizon and the various corpses had been picked completely clean, leaving behind random bits of burned bones and gooey, greasy puddles where Dùbhghlas’s minions once stood. The twins were with Everly, laughing as they hugged and Clancy was holding Ingrid and their girls. They looked victorious and Tighe was smiling as he inspected a Fomorian axe.
Everyone had survived the fight and was celebrating until Everly pointed and let out a cry. “What about Smoak! Is he…?”
“Fuck! I forgot about him,” Bryn said as he and Arawn raced over to Smoak’s half human body.
Arawn checked Smoak’s wrist for a pulse, then shook his head as the others gathered around. “He’s…gone.”
“Oh, no!” Everly covered his mouth as tears spilled down his cheeks. “Isn’t there something we can do?” he asked Merlin and Nox.
“I’m afraid not, lad,” Merlin said sadly, hunkering down next to Smoak. He laid a hand over Smoak’s brow to murmur an incantation but yanked it back. “Hold on!” he whispered excitedly and looked at Nox, stunned. “He’s still in there!Something’sstill in there.” Merlin bent so he could press his ear to Smoak’s chest and closed his eyes. “Speak up! We can’t hear you.”
Nox lowered to a knee and set his hand on Smoak. “You can wake up now, Cenn Cruach. Wake up, friend.”
“How? He doesn’t have a pulse!” Arawn argued. “Or a soul.”
